Science News

Astronomers working with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have deduced the actual color of a planet orbiting another star 63 light-years away. The planet is HD 189733b, and its color is cobalt blue. If seen directly, this planet would look like a deep blue dot, reminiscent of Earth's color as seen from space.

When Opportunity left Earth in 2003, many observers expected the rover to survive no more than a few months on the hostile surface of Mars. 10 years later, Opportunity is still going strong and could be poised to make its biggest discoveries yet at a place named Solander Point.

Three new papers published in today's issue of Science suggest that Voyager 1, now more than 18 billion kilometers from the sun, is closer to becoming the first human-made object to reach interstellar space.

The count of known asteroids and comets that can come close to Earth continues to mount. The 10,000th near-Earth object, asteroid 2013 MZ5, was detected on June 18, 2013, by the Pan-STARRS-1 telescope.

Arctic permafrost soils contain more accumulated carbon than all the human fossil-fuel emissions since 1850 combined. Warming permafrost, poised to release its own gases into the atmosphere, could be the "sleeping giant" of climate change.

Noctilucent clouds have surprised researchers by appearing early this year. The unexpected apparition of electric-blue nightshining clouds hints at a change in the "teleconnections" of Earth's atmosphere.